' When joyful hearts with loyal glee from Cowick raised the call
That spread from Hathelsea's bright stream to echo from SandhalL'

LONDON :
ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.G.

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PREFACE

IN sending out this greatly enlarged and completely
rewritten work, it is proper I should add a few
words of preface, so that readers may know what
they are to expect in the following pages. I beg to state,
then, that my object has been to recover from the past
whatever I could gather that would shed light on the
character and doings of our ancestors, with a view of
guiding, stimulating, and informing those who now live
as to conduct which should make them desirous of adding
to the credit and the prosperity of the community in
which God's providence has placed them. What patriot-
ism is as regards our native land as a whole, so is an
honest and intelligent desire for the reputation and well-
being of our parish as a smaller and yet integral part of
the land, whose glory and greatness is one of the dearest
wishes of every true-hearted and intelligent Englishman.
Everyone seems more or less to lament the deterioration
of rural life — the tendency to crowd into towns, and the
unhappy forgetfulness of large numbers who have been
drawing considerable revenues from agricultural com-
munities, of the claims which these communities have
on them for moral sympathy and material help in order
to enable them to realize that moral and material standard

vi Preface.

of life and circumstance by which rural communities may
not unfairly contrast with the greater attractions in some
respects of urban populations, I venture to say that no
amount of legislative change can ameliorate the condition
of the inhabitants of our rural districts unless it be ac-
companied by a transformation of character. It is moral
worth, and not political franchises, that will raise our
rural population. Where we have high moral character,
intelligence, industry, self-denial, and public spirit, there
is nothing in our political institutions which forbids village
life to be as happy in all its true essentials as that of the
mightiest city in our land. Trusting that the facts
recorded in this volume, and the principles laid down,
may help to this end is the Author's fervent pra}-er.

I will not close this short preface without expressing more
formally and precisely than I have been able to do in the
body of the work my great obligations to many friends and
helpers. Notably to Mr. H. Chetwynd-Stapylton, for many
private contributions of literary matter, and the kind use of
his illustrations of remains of the Templar preceptor}- at
Hirst, the south doorway, pillar-head of doorway, Templar
seal, and ground-plan of buildings. To Dr. Fairbanks,
late of Doncaster, for the engraving of brass of William
Fitzwilliam, Esq., and Elizabeth his wife, who lived at
Haddlesey. To Mr. Hodges of Hexham for permission to
use his excellent plate of the Darcy tomb in Selby Abbey.
Also to Miss Emily Holt, for her kindness in furnishing
me with many most valuable details of the movements of
Edward H., and of leading soldiers and statesmen of his
time. Also to Mr. W. S. Kershaw, the courteous librarian
of Lambeth Palace Library, for his very valuable help in
furnishing copies of documents connected with the period
of the Commonwealth. Also to the Rev. Canon Raine, of
York, for valuable and ready use of the Minster librar}'. To
Mr. W. Paley Baildon, for information relative to Stapleton
and Fitzwilliam property. To Lady Beaumont, of Carlton

Preface. vii

Towers, for kind use of the library there. And to the Hon.
Mr. and Mrs. Bryan Stapleton, for help with regard to
their family pedigree. To the indefatigable Honorary
Secretary of the Yorks xArchaeological and Topographical
Society, for use of documents. Neither must I forget
earlier obligations to Mr. Wadham Powell and Mr.
William Morrell ; nor later ones to Miss Davison, of
Haddlesey House, who most obligingly has allowed me
access to her family papers, and also to reproduce a
facsimile of an autograph letter of Oliver Cromwell
addressed to the constables and head-boroughs of West
Haddlesey.

P.S. — I may add that the profits of this work (if any)
will be given to provide a long-standing want of a mission-
room and Sunday-school for the hamlet of Hirst Courtney
in this parish, with a population of ii6 persons, distant
two miles from the parish church, or to wipe out the
deficit of £60 still needed in payment of outlay on parish
church enlargement.

Its founder and benefactors — Lists of first clergy and patrons, etc. 73-88
CHAPTER Vn.

THE STAPLETON DYNASTY, WHICH EXTENDED FROM 1 262 TO
THE DEATH OF THO:\IAS STAPLETON, ABOUT I3S0.

The first Baron Stapleton — Battle of Bannockburn, and its

effects -...-.- 89-96

CHAPTER VIII.

EDWARD II. AT HADDLESEY.

Residence of Edward II. at Haddlesey — The King's table — An
itinerary of his journeys, with illustrative map — National
history of this date — Queen Isabella at Cawood — Siege of
Berwick — The Despensers, father and son — Rebellion of
Thomas, Duke of Lancaster — His own execution and that
of other peers at Pontefract — Sandhall — Hatfield Hall, etc. 99-115

CHAPTER IX.

TEMPLE HIRST UNDER THE DARCYS.

Rise and progress of the family — Their services in war — Rate
of wages in fourteenth century for artificers — Also rate of
wages for agricultural labourers, and prices of farm produce
in the sixteenth century — Fishing records for same date 11 6- 11 9

CHAPTER X.

SECOND I;AR0N MILES STAPLETON.

The foundation of the Order of the Garter — The plague in
England — Baron Stapleton, Sheriff of Yorkshire and

Contents. xi

PAGE

Escheator for the King in Yorkshire— Holds an inquiry at
Selby — Has David ihaice, King of Scotland, in his charge
—Differences with his tenants at Carlton — Makes his will,
and requests that he may be buried in Drax Church —
Disputes about property after his death, and law suits in the
Court of Chancery and at York— ' Parson of Hathelsay'
mentioned - - - 1 20-1 31

CHAPTER XI.

EST HATHELSAY.

Poll-tax returns— Reign of Richard II.— Est Hathelsay— West
Hathelsay — The two Hyrstes — The development of the
Hathelsay family — Their migration to South Duffield —
Position in Hemingborough — Pedigree, etc. - 132- 141

CHAPTER XII.

TEMPLE HIRST AND THE DARCVS {continued).

A glance at doings in Parliament in the reign of Edward III. —
One of Yorkshire's noblest sons appears in the arena as a
patriot and theologian — Is supported by the Court and
some of the nobility, including John of Gaunt and many of
the clergy — Knights Hospitallers try to deprive Lord Philip
Darcy of Temple Hirst — The Darcy tomb m Selby Abbey
— Thomas Lord Darcy's connexion with Cardinal Wolsey
— Dissolution of the monasteries - - - 142-152

CHAPTER XIII.

THE Pn.GRnL\GE OF GRACE.

The Pilgrimage of Grace extends from Lincolnshire to Yorkshire
— The two provinces of York and Canterbury and the senti-
ments of their inhabitants — Robert Aske chosen to head
' The Pilgrimage ' — Earl Percy refuses to join ■ — Aske
captures Pontefract and Lord Darcy of Temple Hirst —
Henceforth Temple Hirst is the headquarters of the rebels
— Duke of Norfolk out-manoeuvres Aske, though Darcy will
not betray him — Why Darcy sympathized with Aske —
Death on Tower Hill — Courts of law at Temple Hirst 153-17 1

xii Contents.

CHAPTER XIV.

THK DARCVS AFTER THE PILCRLMAGE OF GRACE.

J'AGE

Lord Georye Darcy and his tomb in Brayton Church —
Lord John Darcy, his pubHc employments — ' The Good
Lord Darcy' and his four wives — Lady Isabel Darcy of
Aston — Conyers, Lord Darcy, Earl of Holderness — Pedigree
of the Darcys of Aston — Duke of Leeds - - 172-182

CHAPTER X\'.

THE STAPLETOXS OF CARLTON AND BARONS BEAUMONT.

Arms and Motto — Lady Elizabeth vSiapleton — John Stapleton —
Brian Stapleton and the wars in France — Carlton Chapel
first mentioned — Sir William Gascoigne (son of the chief
justice) — Battle of Towton— Creation of the barony of
Beaumont — Sir Brian Stapleton at Flodden Field, etc. —
L^dy Mary Stapleton, who gives silver candlesticks to
York Minster — The title of Lord Beaumont revived in the
person of Miles Thomas Stapleton of Carlton — Later peers
and members of this family - - - - 183-191

CHAPTER X\T.

THE FITZWILLLAMS x\T EAST HADDLESEV.

Family details - - - 19 - 3

CHAPTER XVH.

HADDLESEV CHURCH : ITS CLERGY AND ENDOW.MENTS
(j-esuiiiLd from Chaptey IV.).

Sir Oliver Cromwell and James I. — Confiscation of Church
property — Two priests' lands— National and ecclesiastical
changes— Cromwell's letter to constables and head borough
of West Haddlescy — Parliamentary surveys affecting
Birkin and Haddlesey — Earl of Rosebery— Haddlescy
separated from Birkin and re-endowed — Rev. Thomas
Pickaid, clerk, becomes Rector of Haddlesey under the
new scheme — The upset at the Restoration of Charles II.
as regards both Haddlesey and Birkin - - 194-206

Contents. xiii

CHAPTER X\"III.

THE HOUSE OF ANCASTER.

I'AGK

The house of Ancaster connected with Haddlesey in the seven-
teenth centuiy — Death of Earl Lindsay — The Dukes of
Ancaster— Duke and Duchess of Suffolk — Craft and cruelty
of Bishop Gardiner— Richard Bertie escapes his reach by
tlight to Holland . . . - . 207-218

Parish history from Chapter X\TIL resumed — Rectors of Birkin
from the restoration of Charles H. — The Thornton family
— The Rev. Thomas Wright refuses a bishopric — Arch-
deacon Hill as patron — Rector Alderson — The Rev.
Valentine Green at Haddlesey — Rev. S. C. Baker as curate
—A new bell, with a new and enlarged church— Three
Wesleyan chapels — New order in Council comes into force
at the death of the Rev. Valentine Green - - 233-241

Map to illustrate the Itinerary of Edward n. at
Haddlesey and General Topographical References
in this Work - - ...

Arms of the Haddlesey Family - Between pp. 138-139

The Tomb of John Lord Darcy and Meinill (who
died at Temple Hirst, a.d. 14 14) in Selby Abbey,
before its recent Mutilation - - . .

Tomb of Lord George Darcy, son of Thomas, Lord
Darcy, of Temple Hirst, in Brayton Church, before
its recent Alteration - - - . .

Facsimile of Letter of Oliver Cromwell To face p.

Ancient House of the Bromleys - - - .

Haddlesey House -..-..

Haddlesey Rectory -.-...

Haddlesey National Schools - - - .

47
48
60
62
66
72

84

98

145

175
206

221

228
238
240

CHAPTER I.

TOPOGRAPHY AND EARLY HISTORY.

■ When joyful hearts, with loyal glee, from Covvick raised the call
That spread from Hathelsea's bright stream to echo from Sandhall.'

IN dealing with the subject of parish history, we must
either begin with the remotest period to which
history reaches in the past, or else, beginning from
the standpoint of the present, work backwards into anti-
quity. This is what we propose to do in this work, and
so we start by saying that Haddlesey is situated in the
south-eastern corner, i.e., the fertile valley, of the great
county of York, and forms part of the Parliamentary
district of Barkstone Ash Division of the West Riding ;
its nearest and post town is Selby, famous for its grand
abbey, founded by William the Conqueror. Another town
nine miles distant, and famous in English history, is Pon-
tefract. The neighbourhood was formerly included in the
extensive forest of Sherwood (Baine's ' Yorkshire '), noted
as the scene of the exploits of the bold outlaw Robin
Hood and his merrie men. The parish of Haddlesey
is bounded on the north by Brayton, on the east by Drax
and Carlton ; on the south by Hensall and Kellington,
and west by Birkin. The scenery is for the most part
level, though relieved by the two elevations of Hambleton

History of Haddlesey.

Hough,^ and Brayton Bargh- on the north. There are
also several patches of woodland, which diversify the
otherwise unbroken expanse of extensive cornfields and
pasture-land. But the most distinctive of all the geo-
graphical features is the river Aire, called by an ancient
historian (Leland)'^ a ' royal river.' Rising in the high
lands of the extreme west of the county, it flows down
from Mnlham Covc,-^ a limestone cliff of some three hundred

1 From the Celtic hoga, meaning a heap.

- Spelt generally 'Barff,' a contraction of Barugh, meaning a gravel
mound shot up through the clay by some convulsion of nature. A
beacon was erected on the Barff in 1S03, when England was threatened
with invasion by Napoleon.

'■'' ThoresbyC Ducatus Lcodiensis '), quoting Camden, says it derives
its name from a/'u (Celtic), meaning slow, heavy, or calm and bright,
as the river Arai (Saone, in France), which Caesar says moves so in-
credibly slow that you can scarcely tell its course by the eye : ' Fluvium
est quod fertur incredibili lenitate, ita ut oculis in utram partem fluat
judicari vix possit.' May this remind us of the waters of Shiloah, qui
vont dozicemont (Isa. viii. 6) ? This our Aire is said in a MS. Survey
to be ' celeberimum ' and ' pra^stantissimum fluvium in partibus Borea-
libus.' It issueth from the root of the mountain Pennigent. The
learned Selden, in his commentary on the latter part of Drayton's
' Polybion,' wherein he advances northward from the Don to the river
Aire, says :

' Now speak I of a flood who thinks there none should dare
Once to compare with her, supposed by her descent
The darling daughter born of lofty Penigent,
Who, from her father's foot by Skipton Down doth scud,
And leading thence to Leeds, that delicatest flood,
Takes Calder, coming in by Wakefield,' etc.
The Aire was made navigable in 1699 by the exertions of William
Milner, Esq., then Mayor of Leeds.

■* Malham Cove is a very interesting place. It may be described as
a magnificent amphitheatre of rock of very fine limestone. These
rocks are 286 feet in height from the base to the central summit. The
sides of the amphitheatre tower towards each other, and in the middle
is the central rock that slopes backward, and from the bottom of the
precipice is a swift current of clear water, which is the source of the
river .^ire, in the very backbone of England, for the rivers which rise

Topography and Early History.

feet high, and pursues its way along the picturesque
valley to which it gives name (Airedale) with its waters
uncontaminated as far as Skipton, the first town on its
banks. From Skipton it flows on by Keighley, and from
thence to Leeds, a distance of thirty-five miles from its
source. From Leeds it wends its way through fertile
meadows to Castleford, at which place it is joined by the
waters of the Calder, and with its stream thus augmented,
it flows on through Haddlesey, vessels of considerable
tonnage wafted on its bosom, until effecting a junction
with the Ouse at Airmin, i.e., Airemouth {aire and mnn,
Swedish or Danish for mouth), from whence it joins the
Humber and flows into the German Ocean. The channel
of the Aire is very deep and circuitous in its course in
many parts. Not unfrequently it overflows its banks, and
by so doing greatly adds to the fertility of the land con-
tiguous to its banks. Some of its irruptions have, how-
ever, been attended with less pleasant consequences, 6'.^^.,
in the year 1069 William the Conqueror was detained
against his will three weeks at Castleford by the over-
flowing of this river ; but the Great Flood, the memory of
which will last for a very long period in the district,
occurred on Saturday, November 17, 1866. A rainfall of
a very unusual character caused the river to overflow its
banks and lay West Haddlesey under water. From
West Haddlesey it flowed into the canal, which connects
the Aire with the town of Selby, and deluged the latter
place to the depth of several feet, even extinguishing the
retorts of the gasworks and spreading terror and distress
on every side. The waters reached their greatest height
at half-past ten o'clock on Sunday morning, but did not
recede to any extent for the next four-and-twenty hours.
]\Ionday being Selby market day, a few people from the

on the eastern side flow mto the German Ocean and those on the
west into the Irish Sea.

History of Haddlescy

neighbourhood with difficulty made their way to the
town, bringing with them sad tales of disaster as regarded
their own parishes. The places which suffered most
appear to have been Selby, Snaith, Camblesforth, the two
Hursts, the two Haddleseys, Gateforth, Burn, Cawood,
and Ryther. It was not before Saturday afternoon that
the water was drained away by means of deep channels
cut communicating with the Ouse. But terrible as was
this inundation, it was as nothing compared to that which
happened through the extraordinary rains of October
I-] and 15, 1892. On this latter occasion some two-
thirds of this parish was under water, in some places to
the depth of seven or eight feet, causing a very large
destruction of newly-stacked corn, as well as some
hundreds of cattle.

But turning to the more normal character of the river,
we would observe that large quantities of valuable fish,
including salmon, have been found within its waters. Of
late years, however, the pollution caused by the inflow of
poisonous sewage from some of the manufacturing towns
on its banks has been most destructive to this valuable
article of human food, as well as rendering the water
unfit for drinking purposes — indeed, a cause of much dis-
comfort, not to say disease.^

^ This great nuisance will, however, be remedied by the efforts of
our sanitary authorities, strengthened by recent legislation, and the
noble stream become again a thing of beauty and a channel of blessing
to those who dwell on its banks.

CHAPTER II.

EARLY NAMES AND CHARTERS.

BUT we must proceed to consider the histor\' of
Haddlesey, a subject not so barren of interest
as some might suppose, especiahy to persons of
an antiquarian taste. The district is one of those which
were the last to acknowledge the power of the Norman
invader, and retains many Saxon words in use up to the
present time ; for instance, low-lying pasture-land is called
an ' Ing'; a wood is termed a ' Hag'; a close a ' Garth ';
to carry is spoken of as ' leading.' But the very name of
the place is intensely and significantly Saxon. Haddlesey
is a corruption of iYthelsey, which was compounded of
' Atheling,' the name of the last Saxon prince, and ' ey '
an island or river^ (there is a stream on the south side of
the parish still called the Ey). The name was then first
corrupted to Hathelsey as in documents above five
hundred years old, and subsequently to Addlesey, and
lastly to Haddlesey. There are many places in England
the names of which are traceable to a similar etymology,
and which have experienced similar corruption, e.g., the

' So Sheppey, in Kent, was formerly written 'Sceapeye' ; t'.e., island
of sheep — R. de Hoveden. While I still adhere to the above as the
most probable deri\ation of Haddlesey, yet I am willing to confess
that more recent study of the topographical character of the place
impresses me with the plausibility, to say the least, of Mr. Wheater's

History of Haddlcscy.

village of Addle, from John de Adela, near Leeds ;
Adlingfleet, properly Athelingflete, on the Ouse ; also in
the county of Surrey Addlestone, and in the city of
London itself Addlestreet, Aldermanbury, and the island
of Athelney, Somerset, which is a corruption of Athel-
ingey, or island of nobles.

Another circumstance which gives an interest to this
parish arises from the fact of the Knight Templars having
had one of their earliest and most important establish-
ments within its boundaries, the foundation of Temple
Hirst being antecedent to either of its greater sisters
Newsam or Ribstane. The original founder was Ralph
de Hastings. There is great difficulty in tracing this
family, although its members seem to have played a very
conspicuous and honourable part in the transactions of

speculations as given in the Leeds Merairy. some years ago. Mr.
Wheater says : ' Hathelsey is but a corruption of the words which in
Saxon speech mean " the beautiful water," the beauty of the scene
being enhanced by the rays of the eastern sun shimmering on the
waters between the foliage of the woods, where timber and pasture
intermingled. . . . Longfellow must have seen such a Hathelsay in
the great land of the West, a thousand years later, when he speaks of
the "shining big-sea-water" :